Traveling The Damascus Road 7-30-2014 Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Over the years I have been loved by others. Even to the point that some, like my mother, my father, my wife and a few others, I have no doubt that these special people would willingly lay down their lives to protect me. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) I can also state without hesitation that there are those I love so deeply, such as my darling wife, my children and a few dear friends, which I would without question or hesitation give my life to save or protect! “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” (Romans 5:7) These are grand and high sounding words and attitudes. The truth of the fact is that though there are those for whom we would give our lives for to save them from some horrible death or protect them from some devastating attack; the truth is, we are fragile people awash in our sinful flesh and self, so there would definitely be hesitation, question and regret! Oh, we would willingly, in the end, give our lives for others but never joyfully! “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” (1John 4:7) Why would we hesitate or regret? Because it is NOT in our nature to be self sacrificing and loving: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) And outside of God in us, we are incapable of true depth of love and selfless sacrificial actions or attitudes! “But as touching brotherly love … : for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” (1Thessalonians 4:9) “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34) Why else do you think it was necessary for God to “Teach” us how to Love and even make it a “Commandment” that we Love one another?? Kind of a gloomy picture of the state of mans heart and mind. Now for the GOOD NEWS: One day in Heaven God the Father told His Only Begotten Son, go ye! Be born into flesh, be despised and rejected by those you created, be tortured by them, allow them to spit upon you, beat you to the point that you are not even recognizable as a man, and willingly and joyfully and without hesitation lay down on and allow them to nail you to an old rugged Roman cross and murder you! Christ NEVER hesitated or doubted or questioned; Christ stood up, looked toward His Father and: “Saying, Father, … not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42) And Christ Went and never looked back or questioned the Fathers will! “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Though the memory of sacrifices made by others for us have faded over time, there is ONE whose sacrifice should never fade from our hearts and minds and can not if we obey His commandment: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross “daily”, and follow me. Luke 9:23(Emphasis Mine) The Lighter Side Top 25 Engineering Terms and Expressions: What they say and what they really mean Close project coordination. (We met together and had coffee.) Years of development. (It finally worked.) Energy saving. (Turn off the power to save electricity.) Well have to abandon the entire concept. (The only person who understood the thing just quit.) We had a major technological breakthrough. (Its boring, but it looks high tech.)
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 17:01:50 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015